It’s in Your Head!

This story covers a period of my life between 2014 and 2017. It is the story of a 41-year-old middle eastern woman who experienced prejudice combined with a limited way of thinking in the medical system. I was injured during an aged-care shift while assisting a paraplegic patient move from his bed to a wheelchair. For 18 months following my injury, I suffered from chronic pain with no diagnosis. During this time, I made several attempts to gain a diagnosis and proper treatment. The account of my last unsuccessful attempt is described here as well as the journey toward a satisfactory outcome. After 18 months of visiting specialists and trying several treatment options, I decided to take the matter into my own hands and engaged in research to establish a way out of my disabling, chronic pain. My journey has had a successful outcome as I managed to find a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Currently, I am living a relatively normal life. This experience has empowered and inspired me to use my skills as a computer science researcher in the health and medicine domain and enabled me to commence a pathway to Health Informatics research.